


Reset

by honestgrins



Series: Elsewhere [8]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Car Accident, F/M, emergency room visit, slight mentions of past abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 13:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9327911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins
Summary: Caroline had a bad habit of staying late at work, but the hospital never slept as proven by the late night car accident victim rushing into their emergency room. Left with his older brother, she makes an effort to at least reset the poor guy's broken nose.





	

"Go home, Caroline," Bonnie insisted, all but shoving her friend toward the locker room. "You've been on your feet for at least six hours, four of which weren't even your shift."

Sighing, Caroline rubbed at her neck tiredly. "I know, I'm going," she promised.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Bonnie snorted, following Caroline like a watchful parent. "Even doctors need their sleep."

As they passed the emergency room entrance, however, paramedics burst through the door with a gurney. "Motor vehicle collision, ten-year-old boy with a broken arm and labored breathing."

Jumping into action, Bonnie elbowed her way next to the stretcher as they rushed toward the trauma room. "Head wound, conscious?"

"Likely a concussion, some lacerations from the glass, barely awake," a medic explained. Caroline watched them disappear down the hallway, her heart clenched in worry.

Despite nearing the end of her residency at Mystic Falls General Hospital, it still hurt to watch patients come in dire conditions. Her desire to fix the boy's injuries almost sent her chasing after Bonnie, if not for the man running in the emergency room. He was pale and shaking, blood pouring from his obviously broken nose.

"Henrik!"

"Sir," Caroline approached him carefully. "I'm Doctor Forbes. Do you need medical attention?"

Shaking his head, he frantically looked around the hospital. "My brother and I were in a car accident, and the paramedics rushed him out of the ambulance before I could even stand. Where did they take him?"

With his swollen nose bleeding steadily, Caroline grew concerned about his own health. "They have him in good hands, but I'd really like to check out your injuries. Can I lead you to an exam room?"

He ran a hand through his hair, his shoulders tense with anxiety. "I just want to see my brother-"

"-and I can find you an update as soon as there's one to give," Caroline assured him calmly. "Until then, may I examine your injuries?"

His tongue ran across his chapped lips and he grimaced, probably at the tang of blood. "Fine," he sighed, weary.

"Thank you." Caroline walked him to the nearest exam room, grabbing a clipboard from the front desk. The nurse on duty glared at her, likely because he knew her shift ended earlier that afternoon. "Enzo, I'm taking room three for a quick glance-over. Will you let me know if there's any news on Bonnie's patient?"

"Sure thing, gorgeous," he answered in a smarmy voice. "I'll also let her know you have a patient yourself."

Taking the warning for what it was - crossing Bonnie Bennett was never a good idea - Caroline still rolled her eyes. "Thanks," she sang sarcastically. Turning back, she was a bit embarrassed at her patient's unimpressed expression.

Caroline coughed, letting him charge into the room so he could settle on the examination chair. "At the risk of making me seem like a bad doctor," she said in a prim voice, "I would like you to know I'm working on an extended shift with limited sleep. If that makes you uncomfortable, you can ask for another practitioner to take my place."

"I don't want to wait," he answered dismissively. His knee bounced erratically, his nerves likely on an adrenaline overload. "Can you just reset my nose and be done with it?"

Struck by his blase attitude about a painful procedure, Caroline tried to tamp down her natural curiosity by focusing on the clipboard. "Name?"

"Klaus Mikaelson."

Caroline filled in the intake form, forcing herself not to ask the question. "Seriously?"

Well, that didn't work.

Klaus frowned in confusion. "Pardon?"

"'Just reset my nose,'" she mimicked in a poor imitation of his British accent. "Get your noke broken a lot, or are you just a masochist who enjoys the pain?"

Giving her a wry, hollow smile, he shrugged. "More the former, love. I don't enjoy the pain, I'm just used to it."

She glanced up, meeting his eyes with an understanding of her own. Doctors received all sorts of training on how to look for signs of abuse; Caroline had a different eye on survivors who had long since survived their hell.

She recognized those eyes from her bathroom mirror every morning.

"Um…" Searching for the right thing to say, Caroline quickly gave up in favor of action. She gingerly traced the edges of his nose, noting where he hissed in pain. "Okay, I found the break," she warned. "I'm going to reset it one, two-"

A sickening crunch filled the room, nearly engulfed by Klaus's curse. "Fuck!"

"There, that should help with the healing," she said, plucking a couple of cotton balls from a jar. He accepted them easily, dabbing at his bloody nose. "Nope," Caroline chided, "stick them in there to help with the clotting."

Klaus sneered, but did as she said. He glanced up, as though daring her to laugh.

Professional as ever, Caroline just went about bandaging him up. Sensing his buzzing agitation, she figured a distraction might help him relax. "I haven't seen you around town before. New to the neighborhood?"

"My grandparents moved to Mystic Falls when my mother was in high school," he explained tiredly, clearly catching onto her game. "Despite raising most of her children in Chicago, she decided to bring out youngest brother back here."

"Do I sense some jealousy? Because trust me, growing up in Chicago sounds a lot more exciting than Mystic Falls. We have one bar that knew exactly who was underage. I mean, it wasn't exactly hard for a girl to get free drinks, but still." Caroline cringed the more she rambled. "Sorry, you don't have to answer, I'm just being nosy."

Klaus shrugged, showing no offense. If anything, he seemed mildly amused. "Not jealous," he clarified. "I suppose I should be glad Henrik will be raised here, away from… But I visit one weekend, and we get t-boned by some drunk driver." His breathing turned ragged, and Caroline could tell he was working himself up. His hands raised to cradle his head. "I can't keep him safe."

Caroline's heart broke for the guy, he was so upset. Poking her head out of the exam room, she called to Enzo, "Hey, anything on Bonnie's patient?"

"As soon as they stabilize him, they're taking him to CT to check for brain injury as a precaution," he answered. "Doc said things were looking good, though. He was awake and talking."

"Okay," Caroline nodded, turning back to face Klaus. "They're making sure his vitals are strong enough for some testing," she explained. "I heard before that his arm was broken, but it sounds like they're just doing checks in case other problems show up."

"He's ten," Klaus sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.

Shrugging, Caroline smiled wanly. "And he'll bounce back, provided everything goes well," she said. "People are resilient, kids especially." Klaus didn't seem to believe her, which made Caroline want to work harder to convince him. "Seriously, would you believe I became a doctor out of spite?"

Watching her carefully, Klaus at least seemed focused on her.

She tended to some other cuts on his face, like it wasn't a big deal she was sharing personal information with a patient. "Yeah, uh, I had this really shitty boyfriend in high school," she explained. "I ended up in the hospital for- Um, anyway, he came to visit. We were sitting there, and I made some comment on how cool it would be to be a doctor. Healing people, helping them, it sounded nice."

As she lost herself in the memories, Caroline smiled apologetically when the antibiotics made Klaus wince. "So, my boyfriend couldn't believe I thought I could handle a pre-med course load, let alone med school." Caroline snorted in derision. "Just because he failed out of a business major, I couldn't be a doctor."

"Well, you showed him," Klaus said, impressed. "Is that why you came back to Mystic Falls, to prove him wrong?"

"No," Caroline sobered. "No, he's in prison actually, good riddance. I came back for my mom, she had cancer."

Klaus nodded sympathetically, and Caroline hated to make him pity her when he was the one who had just been in an accident.

"She's fine now, in remission," she said, feeling incredibly awkward about blurting out her private life. "But yeah, doctor out of spite." She pointed her thumbs back toward her. "People bounce back."

"The moral of the story," Klaus noted. "Thanks, I suppose. Henrik could probably use some of that optimism."

Smiling, Caroline put on a final bandage. "You should call your mom, have her sit with you while you wait for Henrik. Enzo can finish your processing paperwork at the front desk," she said, handing him the clipboard after adding her notes. "I'll leave you a script for some mild pain meds, but you should probably have a full checkup once you know your brother is stable."

Before she could leave the room, however, a cold hand wrapped lightly around her wrist. Caroline turned back to face Klaus, bloody and earnest even with cotton balls up his nose. "Thank you, Doctor Forbes."

She was struck by his sincerity, something inside her begging to give him the same. "Caroline," she finally offered with a shy grin. "And you're welcome."

"Caroline," he tested on his tongue. "It suits you."

Snorting, Caroline rolled her eyes. "Okay, charmer, let's drop you off with the nurse. Don't believe anything he says about me," she warned.

"Would he say that you'd join me for a coffee one day?" Klaus asked. "Because I'd like to believe that."

"Smooth," she laughed. Still, Caroline was surprised to find that she wanted to accept. "I thought you were just here for a visit."

"For the summer." Klaus smirked, gesturing to his nose. "I promise, I'm usually better looking."

Caroline bit her lip in consideration. "I have no doubt," she muttered quietly.

"It doesn't have to mean anything, it could just be a thank-you coffee," he offered, just to tempt her a bit further. "Take a chance, Caroline. I dare you."

Nodding slowly, Caroline reached into the pocket of her lab coat for one of her business cards. "My cell number's on there, but any medical questions should probably be directed elsewhere. Got it?"

Klaus grinned, bowing lightly. "Last one, then," he said. "Where can I find my brother once he's done with testing?"

"Oh, Bonnie- Doctor Bennett will come and update you when he's ready for visitors," she answered. "The waiting room is going to be your best bet."

Squeezing her hand, Klaus nodded gratefully. "I'll call you for that coffee," he promised, heading out. "Something good should happen from today."

Caroline watched him go. She hoped good things did happen from today, and she had a pretty good feeling they would.


End file.
